Unique Experiences

Item Description

Lunch or dinner with Charlotte Vick in Austin, Texas /  Washington, DC / Oakland, California

Charlotte is the Mission Blue Sylvia Earle Alliance (SEA) Content Manager for Google Earth's "Explore the Ocean" layer, Charlotte acts as its lead evangelist, editing and moderating all content for this information-rich new feature introduced by Google in 2009.

Charlotte's work with the Foundation began in early 2008, when she leaped at the chance to support Dr. Earle and Google in the development of the new "Explore the Ocean" layer. She continues this work with hundreds of partners and individual contributors, helping them develop compelling stories about marine life, science and exploration, ocean and atmosphere, oceanic ecosystems, marine protected areas and the human connection in Google Earth. The project is a growing concern with new geographic areas and more stories of exploration and discovery every day.

Having lived in and worked with island communities most of her adult life, Charlotte knows first-hand how important the ocean is to the future of life on Earth. Her passion for the ocean and the life within it began while working on island issues for the US Government. One assignment, monitoring the developments in the UN Convention on Law of the Sea, sparked a decade of interest in that initiative. This has been the prism through which she has worked at the cutting edge of coastal resource planning, fisheries management and ocean technology. Understanding and protecting ocean resources are now her primary focus in life. By her own admission, Charlotte is "all OCEAN, all the time."

Charlotte could also provide her winning bidder (or group) with a personalized tour of shark content in the Ocean in Google Earth, and could tailor her presentation to a children's audience as well.

 http://mission-blue.org/

Item Special Note

Being auctioned is dinner or lunch with one the world’s foremost shark experts or celebrities. It is a unique opportunity to “talk shark” face-to-face, one-on-one, with a real authority on sharks. 

How it works:

1. Bid on a celebrity, shark scientist or conservationist that lives or works in your area, unless you are willing to drive or fly to meet them in their area.

2. The winning bidder pays for the lunch or dinner and may bring as many guests as he or she wishes.

3. We will introduce the winning bidder to the celebrity, scientist or conservationist. The two of you then set a mutually agreeable  date, time and place to meet within one year of the close of the auction.

All winning bids are charitable contributions deductible from US Federal 2013 income taxes.  Funds raised by the auction will be used to support shark research and conservation programs.